Many persons are confined to wheelchairs who have substantial upper body mobility and function and desire to participate and perform a variety of productive and recreational tasks. Such tasks could include photography, astronomy, artistry, or any number of other upper-body dominant activities.
In addition to the obvious handicap of having diminished use of the legs, wheelchair-bound persons are restricted by having to always have one or more hands free to move or control the wheelchair. Wheelchair assemblies are often so cumbersome as to prevent the installation of accessories which could facilitate such activities.
Physically challenged, wheelchair-bound persons are predominantly quadriplegics. Those who are able to propel themselves in wheelchairs, however, normally have at least sufficient range of return with their hands to grip and propel the wheels of a wheelchair. Additionally, wheelchair-bound persons are particularly vulnerable to the elements because of the extra work and coordination necessary to install and maintain protective gear, such as umbrellas.
Previous efforts have been made to solve these problems. U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,813, issued to Cumbie on Aug. 20, 1991, teaches a two-part frame assembly. The apparatus taught by Cumbie includes a two-piece frame member upon which is rigidly mounted some form of accessory apparatus. The two-part mount houses a rigid shaft which is apparently free to swivel about an axis of rotation. The invalid person can put accessories on an arm which is mounted to this shaft, but will experience difficulty in turning around. A more accessible arrangement is needed..
U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,181, issued to Letechipia on Jan. 19, 1993, teaches a pouch for carrying accessories. This pouch is to be housed immediately behind the wheelchair seat. Accordingly, the wheelchair-bound patient could have access to materials within the pouch by swiveling it out from behind to alongside him. This is a helpful device for providing access to wheelchair accessories, but does not realistically facilitate working with them because it does not put them in a position facilitating their use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,240, issued to Romich, et al, on Sep. 21, 1993, provides another version of wheelchair assembly. Rather than be mounted on a shaft extending alongside the wheelchair (as in Cumbie), Romich teaches an arm which is mounted upon one of the armrests of the wheelchair. This is accomplished by providing a clamp which can be securely tightened about a tubular armrest from which an arm is free to swing from a position alongside a wheelchair-bound person to a position generally in front of the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,889, issued to Diestel on Dec. 8, 1992, exemplifies the problems inherent in much of this art. Diestel teaches an overhead cover which is mounted behind the wheelchair-bound person (meaning that such person would have to turn around and pull to install or remove it) and is capable of only one function, that of covering.
These devices collectively lack several key features which would be most helpful to an invalid person. First is that, once installed, each of these devices has virtually no range of vertical or horizontal motion. Accordingly, certain activities may require protection above or an accessory at eye level, or an accessory below eye level. Accordingly, vertical adjustability and angular, or positional, adjustability of an accessory mount would be a most useful element.
Secondly, each of these devices are adapted with one or more complicated adjustments to be made. These adjustments include manipulation of adjusting screws and levers with tools or with the ability to tighten them to some substantial extent. This is an activity which would be difficult for an invalid person to carry out, even one with upper-body motion. The presumption here is that a number of these invalid persons will also have some loss of use of their upper bodies or will be elderly to the extent that arthritis or other maladies inhibits their ability to perform tasks requiring a great deal of manual dexterity.
It would, then, be useful to provide such a wheelchair accessory which could overcome these problems. What is not provided in the prior art is such a wheelchair accessory apparatus which allows permanent installation of a solid accessory mount which does not interfere with wheelchair mobility and is adapted to be operated by a wheelchair bound person who may suffer from other disabilities.